“Hubble’s instruments and the observatory itself are stable and remain in good health.”
The American Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA announced good news about the Hubble Space Telescope. After a string of mishaps involving one of its gyroscopes, the space telescope will soon be back to its deep-sky mission, the agency said.
It all started on November 19, 2023, when one of the famous orbiting observatory's three gyroscopes began giving incorrect readings. Incorrect gyroscope readings can radically affect scientific measurements. To image a specific location in deep space with help, you need to make sure that the telescope is actually pointed at the desired point in the Universe.
As a result, the telescope automatically switched to safe mode. The next day the team managed to regain contact with him. But soon after, things didn't go well when problems with the gyroscope sent Hubble off again. to safe mode on November 21st. Then the attempt was repeated and again failed, «Hubble» went into safe mode again on November 23.
The last transition caused concern to the team of scientists because it lasted longer than the previous two. However, this is not too dangerous, since the observatory can actually function with only one gyroscope. The team uses three at once because it increases efficiency.
Now the NASA team has confirmed that another attempt will be made to restore science operations on the telescope and all three gyroscopes. NASA said:
Based on the performance observed during testing, the team decided to use the gyroscopes in a higher precision mode during scientific observations. Instruments «Hubble» and the observatory itself are stable and remain in good health.